Lots of 14 hour days

Again, it's been a while, but I haven't had as much time to much of anything besides play rock 'n roll and get ready to move to London. I know, rough life, eh?

So the last month has been exhilarating, and exhausting. My days have gone something like this:

5:30 AM - Alarm goes off
6:00 AM - Bruce picks me up for Thermal and a Quarter (TAAQ) rehearsal
6:30 till 9:00 AM - TAAQ rehearsal
10:00 AM - Arrive at work
Between 8:00 - 9:00 PM - Head home
10:00 PM - Get home from work, crash

This has been the schedule for many of my days over the last few weeks.

I usually don't work as much as I have been, but out of the three members of my team, including myself, two of them were out of office for about three weeks. So I was doing my job, as well as doing large parts of their jobs, while rehearsing and traveling on weekends to gigs.

This last weekend I was in Delhi, where we had 2 gigs. The first was for an AIDS benefit put together by the EU and the Thomson Foundation. Eight bands in India wrote original songs for a compilation album, and the top three bands played live for the awards ceremony. So I left on a Wednesday evening, played on Thursday night and then Friday night we had a proper gig with the same two bands we played with for the benefit. (go to the website do download the tune, Keep the Promise) The three bands, Soulmate, Skinny Alley (who I played with about 10 months ago) and TAAQ played at Lodi Gardens in New Delhi. What an amazing gig! The lead guitar players of the three bands are literally the GODS of guitar around these parts. Here are some pics, really only of TAAQ, because that's all I could get my hands on.

The band, minus Rajeev behind the skins. (Bruce, me, Tony, Rzhude)

Tony and I. I love Tony.

It was pretty cold, about 45 degrees F. That's our keyboard player, Chandy, on the left side.

This is Rajeev, my boy. I may be the youngest in the band, but this guy acts more like a 21 year old than anyone. Damn good drummer, as well. Can you believe he started playing the drums when he started playing with TAAQ 10 years ago?!
Intense.

Rzhude (pronounced Rudy). A frickin hilarious guy. We have a lot of fun on road.
I look like someone out of Huey Lewis and the News.

The next night, Saturday, we had the TAAQ 10th Anniversary party. This included a press conference, sponsorship by Wrangler who fitted us in our apparel for the night, and sponsorship by Seagram's who sponsored the booze. We played for about 90 minutes, and then partied with the friends and family we invited. I have yet to get any pictures of that but I'll post them when they come along.

Seeing as I've been having so much fun, I'll be postponing my transfer to London till the middle of February. If I keep having this much fun, we'll see if I ever leave.

I have 4 gigs this weekend, and then I leave for London on Monday for about 5 days. When I get back, I'll head to Chennai for a recording session, and then I leave on Tuesday morning for the US. I will need the R&R!